


Stools and Staircases

by ajkal2



Series: Doorsteps-verse (aka that one where dave runs away to roses) [2]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, feelings jams at 3 in the morning, mom is a good mom, mom is no longer conspicuously absent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-27
Updated: 2015-04-27
Packaged: 2018-03-26 01:50:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3832561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ajkal2/pseuds/ajkal2
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You can't sleep.</p><p>---</p><p>This whole thing is a feelings jam.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stools and Staircases

It’s been a day since you turned up on the Lalondes front door, and it’s been a good one. Roses Mom is nowhere to be seen, and Rose says she’s sleeping off the hangover from the night before. You see a figure moving (not tottering and stumbling, moving with purpose) around the labs next door, and you wonder. Rose is... Rose, and you’ve loved and hated living with her in equal measure since you arrived. She’s like a sister, a twin, teasing you and arguing with you and noticing you. Everything in this house, this mansion, is so soft and rich and nice, and you love the small guest room here more than you miss your crappy bedroom in Houston.

 

School starts again soon. You’re not sure what to do about that.

 

You have nightmares sometimes that Bro comes and takes you away and hurts you for leaving him. You have nightmares. Roses face twists in disgust and she throws you out in the cold. John sneers and laughs when you ask to stay at his, and you have to go back to Houston and he’s waiting for you, and he turns away and you have nowhere to go, or worse, he hasn't even noticed you were gone. You like it here. You don’t want to go. You’re safe here. You are. Rose said you could stay. She said so.

 

You’re on edge, jumping at shadows as if they’ll swipe at you with long, katana shaped claws, glancing out of any window you pass expecting to see pointed shades looking back at you. Rose notices, but doesn’t comment.  

 

She didn’t tell Jade or John why you’re up here instead of down there where you’re supposed to be, doesn’t mention the wound down your side except to ask if it’s healing ok. Johns frustrated: wants to know what's happening, gets irritated at you and logs off when you don’t tell him. Jade picks up there's something wrong, and only asks gently, and in roundabout ways, giving you the chance to not answer. You never do. If you tell them they’ll think you’re a victim, like Rose does, look at you with fucking pity when they think you’re not watching, but you’re always watching, Bro taught you to always be aware of your surroundings, that just when you think you’re safe something will come out of the dark and leave you with another scar. You sleep with the lights on, and you’ve taken the poker from the fireplace and put it by the bed in the spare room so you’re ready. Rose notices, but doesn’t comment.

 

You lie on the bed in the spare room, lights on, blinds down, and even the fluffy pillows and soft sheets can’t put you to sleep. You have to stay awake, have to be on guard, always be on guard, because you’ve done something wrong, and if you do something wrong you get punished for it, and you haven’t been punished yet so it’s still coming, so you have to stay awake, stay alert, so he can’t take you by surprise. You know he’s far away, he can’t hurt you now, but. Every time you close your eyes you hear him walking towards you and snap them open again. He’s never there.

 

You give up on sleep for the second night in a row, and climb out of bed. He’s behind you, breathing on your neck, so you press your back to the wall and slide towards the door, poker in hand. You push it open and jump into a fighting stance, lifting your weapon to defend your weak side because that's where he'll strike, but nothing attacks you. You know that trick, so you wait. You left your shades on the bedroom table. The shadows watch you, judging you, whisper that you're a coward, you are a coward, you ran away.

 

The stairs creak under your feet, and you wince, but continue, poker still ready in hand. You don’t know where you’re going, but you need to move, you need to keep moving so he can’t catch up. There's a sound, an actual sound, and movement in the shadows and you twist and block the blow and- A woman, someone who must be Roses Mom steps out of the shadows, her hands raised.

 

“Hey-yo. S’only me. Been meaning to talk with’cha” She walks like she’s sober, gliding slowly towards the kitchen, pink scarf trailing behind her and hair perfectly coiffed. She slides onto one of the high stools, and crosses her legs. You lower her poker, and stand awkwardly. “What’s yer name first of all, didn’ catch it.”

 

“Dave.” Your voice is a whisper.

 

“Siddown, Davey-boy.” She pats the stool next to her, and you lower yourself onto it, leaving the poker leaned against the side of the counter, though part of you wants it in your hand. This is it, she’s gonna kick you out, you’re just some weird kid invading her home, of course she’s gonna kick you out. You don’t meet her eyes, look at your hands in your lap instead. “You’re friends with my Rosie, right?” You jerk your head into a nod. “You got a family?” Nod. “Parents?” Shake your head. “Big sister?” Your hands shake a bit, and make them into fists. You shake your head. “Brother?” Her voice is soft. You nod. “Where you from, Davey?”

 

“Houston.” You almost can’t force the word out, you’re so scared. She’s going to send you back there, back to him.

 

“Mighty long way away.” You nod numbly. “Am guessin’ you’re not just here for a visit.” You don’t move. “You run away?” The question is as soft as all the other ones she’s asked, but it makes your throat close up, and you swallow once, twice, and you can feel tears prickling at your eyeballs but you don’t let them out, and you jerk your head up and down quickly, squeezing your eyes shut, and you don’t want to go, you don’t want to leave. “Oh, honey, it’s all right, c’mere.” An arm wraps around you and you flinch from it, but it follows you, resting gently along your shoulders. “‘M not gunna make ya go back, promise. D’ya wanna go back?” You shake your head violently. “A’ight then. Ya won’t. Pinky promise. Ya can stay ere fur a bit.” Your shaking slows down, her hand rubbing your back as you realise that holy crap, she’s not kicking you out. “... He rape ya?” You shake your head. Bro wasn’t that kind of bad. “...Beat’cha?” You hesitate, then lift the baggy shirt Rose gave you as pajamas, showing her the bandages. She whistles.“That looks like it hurt.” You shrug. It did for a bit. “Healing up alight?” You nod. “Good, thats good. Ya hurt anywhere else?” You shake your head, dropping your shirt.

 

“This guy rejected him.” You don’t know why you’re telling her all this first, you don’t know why you’re sitting in her kitchen at three in the morning but you feel the safest you have in weeks. Maybe it’s her perfume, delicate and floral, so different from the rank stench of beer that was always on his breath. Maybe it's the way her pink eyes don't judge you like Roses. “Jake. He was always out, always with Jake, and then one night he came home drunk and angry but more than usual and was shouting about Jake and stupid bastard and I was in the way and he looked so angry and I put my hands up but he went low instead and got me and I fell and- and-” You swallow, not trying to keep the tears back now, and the words keep falling out of your mouth “and he kept kicking me and then just swore and went to bed and I couldn’t do it anymore so I stitched myself up and bandaged it and took his money and went.” The words are coming out between wretched sobs now, and you try to stop it, stop being weak and a coward and crying but she makes soft sympathetic noises and wraps her other arm around you as well, pulling you in so your head rests on her shoulder, and you keep on going “and I did something bad, I took his money, s-so he’ll come here and I don’t w-want him to come here I like it here and- and-” You stop, closing your mouth and just shaking in her hold, her hand still rubbing circles into your back.

 

“Aw, sweetie, you can stay, don’t worry, you’re as safe as houses here, we got this fancy system all set up, shush now, calm down, don't worry, you’re safe, ah  _promise_  you.”

 

You manage to choke out a “Sorry”, and she replies with “Ain’t nothing t’be sorry for. Nothing, ya hear? Sometimes things just need to be said to someone, and yer can’t tell ya friends because they're too close, so someone new’s best. Don’t matter much who they are, just that they’ll listen. Best if their someone who c’n help though. And ah can help, and ah will, and you can stay here as long as you like. Kay?” You nod against her shoulder, your tears slowing as you listen to her, breathing deep and slow like she tells you to until you feel better. You pull back a bit, and she lets you go so that you can bring your arm up and wipe at your face with the sleeve of Roses shirt. “Better?”

 

“Yeah. Thanks.” Your voice is a bit hoarse now, and you, wow, you need sleep, like yesterday. Her finger pushes your chin up until you meet her eyes, and the bright bubblegum pink surveys you for a few moments. Her eyes crinkle at the corners and she smiles.

 

“You gunna be alright getting to sleep now?”

 

“Yeah.” You stifle a yawn.

 

“Off you pop then, have a lie in. You deserve it.”

 

You slip off the stool, and try to flash her a smile (you’re still not sure how they work) before climbing up the stairs.

 

It’s only as you’re about to drift off to sleep that you realize you left the poker downstairs, but the shadows aren’t hunting you any more.

 

By the time you wake up it’s late afternoon, and Rose is teasing you for drooling in your sleep. You insist you do no such thing, and the debate continues for a long while, and ends in her bursting out laughing at the snooty voice you put on when arguing with her.


End file.
